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Thursday, February 14, 2008

THE TARTAN TORY BUDGET

Today in the council chambers we saw another episode of shame for the SNP they produced a budget that Margaret Thatcher would have been proud of. Cuts in spending were imposed on the most vulnerable members of the community.

The poorer areas were hammered again by this bunch of political charlatans, education, social work, the elderly etc. are the ones who will suffer most, this is the cost of the council tax bribe by the nats.The cost of council services generally go up every year, when you have a tax freeze you lessen the money available to pay for those costs and services get cut, that's what the SNP have just done.

Nurseries, sports facilities and education spending in poor areas are slashed by these tartan tories yet again.First Salmond (the spiv) sells the jerseys to the tories in Holyrood and the Renfrewshire nats follow his lead like sheep.

The cheering you might have heard was the sound of the two tories rushing to stand four square behind this right wing budget. They didn't just support it they fawned over it. None of the nats seemed to be in the least perturbed by their tory friends support, what has happened to these people, they gave us Thatcher in Westminster then a coalition with the tories in Paisley then a coalition in Holyrood now the Renfrewshire tories think they are wonderful as well.

46 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Terry,

why don't you for once in your life state the facts of the matter.The SNP government has given the councils money to cover the freeze. You lot cranked up the council tax by 60% squeezing families to cough up. Meanwhile the labour goverment is spending billions on war in Iraq, buying new tridents, 40 billion on bailing out a private company, Northern Rock.Who do you think the people are really most revolted by?

(Anonymous) 18:16 - “The SNP government has given the councils money to cover the freeze” - No they haven’t it was our money they top sliced it and then said vote for a tax freeze and we will give you this extra sum, some people are pretty stupid anonymous.

I think people will become more and more revolted by this SNP/Tory cabal as time goes on just as they did in the seventies.

Labour announced their budget proposals today at the meeting in opposition to the administration.

You have been ranting about saving the Apex Centre for ages and yet Labour had no provision for this in their budget proposals. Now why is that? Could it be that you are just a hypocrite who would use any means possible to damage the opposition?

Remind us again how the single Tory voted on the council run by Labour? Oh, that's right, he recognised that the ruling party was being advised by the officers as to the correct course of action and he supported them.

If you did not propose raising the council tax then what are you complaining about?

I for one am happy that my council tax is being frozen. In the 8 years I have paid council tax I have seen my services fall in quality, roads degenerate, infrastructure crumble and 3 town centres be decimated by Labour. I was being defrauded of my own money and you seemed to be shamelessly proud of this. Indeed as you have pointed out previously you are quite happy to have money poured into projects in your area of dubious or no benefit just so you can benefit politically.

In fact it is most telling that the only way you can attempt to attack this is to raise the "spectre" of Thatcher (careful now Terry, that is almost Nationalist of you) and claim she would be proud of it. Well, considering the woman resurrected the country so that today I have the job I have because of her then I for one look forward to this budget.

Incidentally - we remember the 70's Terry and it is not the SNP/Tory cabal that we got sick of, it was the Labour party driving the country into the ground by "fawning" over the union fat cat demands. It was the Winter of Discontent, the 3 day week, the wild cat strikes, the depressive era. That is what we remember and that is what we are revolted by.

Should the Tories (a right of centre party) not have voted for a "right-wing" budget then? If they seen this as right-wing then is it any surprise they voted it through?

Should they have voted against it based purely on the fact that it was the SNP that produced it? Would that not be betraying their right-wing principles? If this budget delivered what they wanted then why would they vote it down?

Also, would you not agree that had Wendy told Salmond that she would instruct the troops to abstain that the SNP would not have had to haggle over the Holyrood budget with the Tories? The Tories were handed that powerful position because Labour decided at the last minute to abstain. So they effectively helped the tories out, they can now claim that a Conservative vote actually makes a difference. Another incompetence?

And where are the SNP partners in the Lib Dems when all this was going on in Renfrewshire yesterday? Did they disappear like they did in Holyrood?

It certainly seems that from your description the only two parties even attempting to govern or administrate are the Conservatives and the SNP.

Well done Terry, you have finally admitted that Labour and the Lib Dems are an irrelevance. A first step towards recovery I think.

Tartan Tory has always had a certain ring of truth about and it is as valid today as it was when first coined. You had to be there to see the delight of the Tories at the SNP budget, and the traitors in the SNP were only to happy to roll over and have their tummies tickled by the Tories who were, as always, treating them with contempt.

There was a surge in SNP support in the seventies which saw about seven of the traitors at Westminster where they helped to bring down the Callaghan Govt. and put Thatcher in power. And the rest as they say is history.

A dark terrible period arrived and communities and lives were ruined, Scotland and the rest of Britain has still not recovered from this act of treachery by the SNP and we won’t forget it.

Would it not be more accurate to state that regardless of who did what in Parliament it was the people of Great Britain that replaced Callaghan with Thatcher and did so because he had brought the country to its knees?

To claim otherwise is to suggest that only 7 SNP MPs replaced an entire government and is quite frankly a lie.

The SNP were so confident of their budget that they refused a recess to let us read it, they gave the excuse that there hadn’t been a budget recess in 16 yrs. forgetting to mention that a recess had never been asked for.

I spoke at the meeting and made the point that this tissue of lies that the SNP called a budget will have to be paid for and we can see that already and it’s mainly the poor who will pay.

No comment to make on any of this then? On the Tory vote for Labour pre-2007 on the council? On the wreck the unions made of the country in the '70's? On the decimation of the Renfrewshire area under Labour? On the excessive tax hikes by your administration?

All you can come up with is a weak "check" and hope no one notices the hollowness of your argument and hypocrisy of your stance?

“You have been ranting about saving the Apex Centre for ages “ Not true I’ve hardly mentioned it for ages and there is a reason for that.

A company called ‘Spark of Genius’ have been negotiating with the council for quite some time to take over the building and provide the community with use. Those negotiations unknown to me or the community activists in Ferguslie ended in failure and this was confirmed only two weeks ago.

I had no idea therefore that it was to be closed until I seen the budget paper, I have many gifts but mind reading is not one of them.

None of this alters the fact that the SNP refused to spend £400,000 on it while spending £8 m in Ralston/Penilee we would not have done that.

No, what we are saying is that even with the SNP "bringing down the government" it was still the electorate in charge.

Why did the country not simply return another Labour government? Why did they vote Tory?

"Had they not done so, no election, no Thatcher no misery and destruction, They were traitors then and still are"

To who? The public clearly relished the chance to vote Labour out so that indicated that they had the general support of the people. Are you saying that they should have supported Labour and denied the people the chance to vote?

Who are ‘we’ BTW. The labour Govt. were under sustained attack by the Tories and the right wing media and the SNP joined the Tories to bring them down, Scotland did not want a Tory Govt. as the election showed.

They were betrayed by the SNP and suffered under Thatcher because of these traitors, people will never forget what the SNP did, they have no political principals of any kind, and they are ready to do it again.

They claimed to be Scotland’s party and when it came to the crunch they gave us Thatcher.

Another interested party also recocgnised that the Apex centre was not viable. There is a perfectly good sports centre just a few hundred yards along the road, well used and capble of nmeeting local needs. Why don't you come out to Ralston and compare their facilities compared to Ferguslie Park, you might get a surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!Also are you worried that those people who can no longer access the internet through the Digitial Inclusion Project will no longer be able to access your website!! God forbid you have to get out and visit your constituents like the rest of your fellow Councillors, look forward to meeeting you if you venture out of Terry World!!!!

The SNP in opposition opposed the Council Magazine, opposed the New Build Council Chambers, opposed Junkets, opposed the Street Warden's Service, what are they now doing, opp's forgot to say that they opposed McCartin, the great white Bear from Renfrew, Bill 2 faced McGuinnes hated McCartin with a vengeance, now they are all one big happy family with "the bouy" McKay. What a band of spineless people they are.

It would seem there is some disagreement with your unique take on the budget here. I hope you are not spinning.

As for Thatcher, what are your views of this heartwarming picture? Should we take it you are no fan of Gordon Brown then since he obviously promotes such an alliance?

Or how about this picture? Another alliance you must be appalled at. You will be tearing up your Labour membership card now I take it?

And let's just look at that Parliamentary budget vote.

1. The Tories voted for it because it delivered 1000 police officers - which, er, the Labour party proposed in their own amendments and the LibDems supported.

2. The Tories voted for it because it delivered business rates cuts to boost the economy and create jobs. The Labour party didn't oppose this and are not against in principle. The LibDems also had this as a policy.

3. The Tories voted for it because it delivered a national drug strategy. Labour or the LibDems aren't opposed to that - are they?

So that looks like consensus to me rather than Tory policies.

In contrast.

1. The Tories supported the Labour Government in their desire to invade Iraq with all the accompanying death and desctruction that followed despite the warnings such an ill-prepared action would do so. The SNP opposed it.

2. The Tories supported the Labour Government's plans to spend billions on Trident instead of public services. Something the STUC is firmly against. The SNP opposed this waste of money on imperial toys for the boys.

3. The Tories have seen their PFI policy adopted by the Labour party and the subsequent leagage of money from front line services to pay for repayments. It's actively opposed by UNISON. The SNP want to squeeze it out the market place.

So tell me Terry, after all that why do you so blindly support Labour's right-wing alliance with the Tories over the SNP's consensual approach?

Just what will it take for the Labour party to do before you leave them behind? I'm sure many people would like to know as the evidence of Labour's dalliance with what you would call the excesses of Tory policies is quite clear.

Or is it just the Labour party that is important to you?

One other question Terry.

Nothing lasts forever - not even an SNP Government will - which begs the question of which way you will fall when the Tories (inevitably) win at Westminster again.

Will you be a supporter of the sovereignty of the people of Scotland or a supporter of Westminster sovereignty - thus putting you into alliance with the Tories...again.

They are not my party and you continue to pander to the nationalist element you claim to despise with talk of the "democratic deficit".

They may have brought down a government but the replacement party won a 44 seat majority - a clear indication of the will of the people. Should the SNP have voted to keep a party in power that the public so dearly wanted to get rid of?

And when the vote was counted the Tories were only 10% behind Labour in Scotland. Indeed using your own current standards for attempting to delegitimise the SNP more people voted for other parties in 1979 in Scotland than voted for Labour. So in actual fact the SNP vote against Labour in the Commons was a direct reflection of the will of the Scots people was it not?

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I represent Ward 4 Paisley North West. I'm a Socialist who believes in equality, peace and the redistribution of wealth, I opposeRacism, Sexism, Sectarianism, Nationalism and any kind of discrimination. Best wishes for a Socialist future.What appears on this website are my personal views and opinions. Not those of the Labour Party, Renfrewshire Council or anyone else, mine only.

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